Bar of the Week: Miss T

The Colaba cartel behind this sexy new restaurant and cocktail lounge promises a legitimately good time

An almost tangible air of expectation hangs over Miss T, a restaurant and bar that opened up in Mumbai this week. And with good reason too. Two major restaurant groups that are together being dubbed the Colaba cartel – the ones behind The Table and Magazine St Kitchen + those working Woodside Inn, The Pantry and Bombay Vintage – have come together to bring the southeast Asian restaurant to life. And the result is a sexy, grown-up space that can be hip and serene at the same time.

Nestled in a two-storied bungalow formerly occupied by Busaba, the restaurant looks teeny from outside, opening up Narnia-style to reveal chic interiors. Only in this Narnia, there are potent drinks and an impressive menu. We walk in, go past the booth-style tables straight to the T-shaped bar where the music is a bit louder. Behind the bar is Jeremy Buck who’s just a month old in Mumbai but brings with him experiences from having worked at some of the world’s best bars. Couple that with Hong Kong-based mixologists Proof & Co. working the bar, and you know there’s no place for a staid drink out here.

Drink some

Buck has put together a tight menu of cocktails, each sporting ingredients that might seem puzzling. There’s a slow-cooked Basmati rice reduction in one, ghost watermelon juice in another – and bitters that Buck had packed in his suitcase when he immigrated, at the expense of space for his clothes. Each of his creations has an interesting backstory that Buck will happily spill on, if you ask nicely. We started off with the L’etranger that sees our familiar Tanqueray gin with an in-house kefir lime tincture, coconut water and… hang on… milk. Yes, milk. And still, it was strangely adult and elegant. Expect to find the soon-to-be-launched Stranger & Sons gin to go in this cocktail, lending it its very name.

The Miss Parker that our date was drinking came with their in-house whisky blend (Buck won’t tell what this blend really is but we imagine it had Canadian Club at the very least) with spice-infused black tea and pinot noir. It looked as good as it sipped, in a beautifully precarious loooong-stemmed glass. PB lovers can’t miss the Quixotic – it comes with peanut butter washed Jim Beam bourbon that might sound strange and adolescent but again turned out to be quite a stunner, with a saffron essence pumping the flavour. Else, check out the Washed Martini – classic for the most part save a 48-hour washed coconut oil making an appearance, definitely not trying to please everybody.

Your drink here might come with a solid ice cube branded with the restaurant logo – a gimmick, maybe, but an Instagram-ready one. There are a couple of bar eats to go with your drinks, but we suggest you either move to a table or the 16-seater private dining room upstairs if you’ve booked that space for a more memorable evening.

Eat some

Miss T’s penchant for legit name-dropping continues here with the legendary Bawmra Jap of Bomras in Goa acting as a consulting chef alongside Vietnamese chef Duc Tran. Their in-house executive chef Nikhil Abhyankar does a fine job of putting together their collective genius with a menu that borrows from the Golden Triangle – Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar plus Vietnam. We would’ve never ordered the Bomras’ Tomato Salad had Nikhil not insisted on it – and boy, was it fresh and good. We’re biased towards Pickled Tea Leaf salads, and the one here was as delish as we imagined – the crunchy nuts and seeds amping it. The Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls were all-stars though the wok-fried Vermicelli Crab Meat was over-seasoned and drab.

Don’t leave without giving the dessert a go – just four to choose from in keeping with the tight menu. Our pick was the Chocolate Dacquoise: a beauty made of Amaretto cream, chocolate and coconut ganache, and raspberry coulis. It made for a fitting end to the evening.

The verdict

Sexy without trying too hard, and adult without being intimidating – this might just be one of the coolest openings of this year.